Market Place

Digital Access

Home Delivery

Local news, prep sports, Chicago sports, local and regional entertainment, business, home and lifestyle, food, classified and more! News you use every day! Daily, Daily including the e-Edition or e-Edition only.

Text Alerts

Choose your news! Select the text alerts you want to receive: breaking news, prep sports scores, school closings, weather, and more. Text alerts are a free service from SaukValley.com, but text rates may apply.

Email Newsletters

Panel to look at renovation plan

Board to decide whether to break up work at Reagan Middle School or do all at once

By DEREK BARICHELLO
dbarichello@saukvalley.com
800-798-4085, ext. 526

May 15, 2013

DIXON – The school board will decide tonight just how much of $2.9 million in renovations planned at Reagan Middle School will be done this summer.

Dixon Superintendent Michael Juenger will present the board with five options. Two of those options, which tackle a smaller portion of the project, are the most likely to be chosen, he said.

The first option calls for replacing windows for $300,000 and the cafeteria roof for $190,000.

Juenger said the school has broken windows and the cafeteria roofing is near the end of its life span, and falling apart in some areas.

The second option adds replacing lighting in the school’s newer addition for $255,000.

A $62,000 energy grant might offset lighting costs, and the new lights are expected to save the district in utility costs.

Since the board levied 5 cents in taxes in its health, life, safety fund, it will not need to borrow money to do the work, Juenger said.

Also, the overall tax bill from the school will not increase, because the district paid off a $296,000 bond and will pay off another next fiscal year.

“Without raising taxes, we have some flexibility to do this work without extending those bonds, and that’ll be part of the discussion [tonight],” Juenger said.

He presented the board with three more options to consider.

One option adds $580,000 to replace boilers, piping, pumps and heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls. Another adds nearly $1.6 million to replace roofs, ceilings, piping and insulation.

There are advantages to doing everything under one contract, rather than in phases, such as capitalizing on lower interest rates, not missing out on one-time grants and capitalizing sooner on energy and operational savings, he said.

The superintendent said strategic planning and facilities committees will be appointed that can look at the long-term goal for funding the $2.9 million project.

“We can put some of that stuff off for them to look at,” Juenger said.

Also, the board will approve its budget and place it on public display for 30 days.